Dust in the Wind, Over the Mountain
by Fatalize
Summary: It's a post-ToS-story about picking up the pieces. Sybak is in turmoil, Raine is a political prisoner, Yuan is being a moron and Zelos is still trying to find himself. As usual, Lloyd is caught in the middle. Dark themes, one-sided Zeloyd, lots of spoiler


Here it is, finally. After nearly a month of preperation, the collaboration fic of doom has arrived! We have combined our talent and brilliance in one massive, epic, disgustingly complicated _Tales of Symphonia_ fanfic! I have no idea how long this is going to be, but I do know that this fic has a definite beginning, middle and end (sort of).

It's a post-ToS-story about picking up the pieces. Sybak is in turmoil, Raine is a political prisoner, Yuan is being a moron (as usual) and Zelos is still trying to find himself. As usual, Lloyd is caught in the middle of the entire mess, determined to make everything better, but completely and utterly oblivious to the deeper implications of the events around him

And without further ado, Cephied Variable and Kaiousei present:

**WARNINGS:** Spoilers for the entire game, dark themes and (very) one sided shounen-ai.

_-Cephied Variable_

* * *

**Dust in the Wind, Over the Mountain**  
_a collaboration by Cephied Variable and Kaiousei_

**Chapter One:** Flow of Time

Zelos was bored.

It had never quite occured to him that a person could actually grow _bored_ with life. Sick of it, sure. Frustrated, of course. It was easy enough for a person to just lose the will to live - Zelos knew because he had lost it several times himself... but this was different.

He was simply... discontent. He hadn't expected Meltokio to have solved it's political melodrama so quickly. When there had been social upset, Zelos had at least been kept busy attempting to keep the peace with the lingering effects of his influence as the Chosen. Now that things were finally settling in to a steady routine, Zelos discovered himself losing interests in the things that had made up his entire life before he had begun the journey that saved the worlds. And now, waking up every morning to the exact same thing was not nearly as satisfying as it had once been. After all he had gone through, it was if all that he would ever accomplish was over and done with.

But that changed when Lloyd Irving came to town.

It wasn't that Lloyd was particularly charismatic - because he wasn't - but nevertheless, there was something about him that inspired even the least motivated individual into action. Zelos had never really believed in anyone before meeting Lloyd. After all, it was stupid enough to place your faith in a thing like the floor under your feet. Placing your faith in a fragile human didn't even _register_ on the scale of idiotic things you could do in your lifetime.

But whether he chose to admit it or not, Zelos discovered himself relying on Lloyd for inspiration and motivation. He hadn't even realized it himself until he was standing in his mansion doorway, on his way to accomplish something greater.

"Oh, hey Zelos!" Lloyd said from his place at the bottom of Zelos' mansion stairs. "Where are you going?"

"With you," Zelos replied simply, descending the staircase as he shifted his backpack uncomfortably. "So, where to? The deep spooky depths of the Gaoracchia forest? The smoldering ruins of enlightening Heimdall?"

"What?" Lloyd hesitated, cocking an eyebrow as he turned to face the red-head. "Who invited you?"

"None of that matters, now!" Zelos said, grinning his best grin as he gestured dismissively. "Come on, bud! Let's go, let's go, let's go!"

In the end, there wasn't very much Lloyd could have done to protest. And this was how Zelos Wilder and Lloyd Irving, a familiar although mismatched pair, began their journey together.

* * *

Lloyd had intended all along to fix the world the best he knew how. At first, it had required the sacrifice of Colette - therefore, he changed his mind. One thing led to another, and eventually he was left to clean up the mess that the Angels of Derris-Kharlan had left behind... but Lloyd didn't mind. You couldn't clean out a few closets without dragging all your junk out into the bedroom. He accepted it all in stride, taking it as another piece of his responsibility as a resident of the planet. And so he left Dirk's house shortly after the unification of the world for the sake of exploring it, and to recover the exspheres. The exspheres caused suffering, so he swore to remove them all, therefore taking the misery away from their new planet as well.

Colette had wanted to come along very badly, but Lloyd had insisted that she stayed. She had been through a long and exhausting journey that had drained everyone quite a bit, but the source of it all came straight down to what had originally been her journey of world regeneration. Although disappointed, Colette agreed - she had some things to do at home herself. A lot of time had passed since she had left the village, and she was enjoying the time she was able to spend with her family, and they had missed her.

So Lloyd said goodbye and she wished him luck and off he went out into the wide world once again.

Tethe'ant, or Sylveralla - Lloyd couldn't decide - was a big, big place, and very confusing for him to try to navigate. He had spent so much time struggling to learn the lay of Tethe'alla and Sylvarant under Professer Raine's studies, and now it was even more difficult to figure out where things were in the reunited world. Ozette was north of Iselia for some reason, and when Lloyd found his way to the rebuilt Luin, he discovered the people there in a panic over Exire, which was floating high in the sky - completely oblivious to the ongoings below. In Asgard, they were trying to figure out where the people of Mizuho had come from in order to talk to them, while the Mizuho shinobi sighed in frustration at how ignorant the people of Sylvarant were of the other world. According to Altessa, Tabatha had left some time ago to an undiscerned location, but he didn't seem overly concerned. In the SouthEast Abbey, Seles was outside in the garden getting some fresh air. Although the other people were quite happy about the sky being back to normal, Seles just stared angrily at Lloyd until he gave up trying to talk to her and went away.

Although he had intended to start at the beginning from the time he had left, his curiousity had gotten the best of him, and he ended up getting off track until finally he willed himself toward Meltokio, and discovered the huge city perfectly fine, and the King ready and willing to familiarize himself with the rest of the new world. Even the people in the slums were beginning to move out into other places of the new world for the sake of finding a place they wouldn't be criticized for the things that they could do nothing about. Sylvarant was good for that, so they made their way to the other end of the world.

He came alone and he left with Zelos, trusting the King to take care of the exspheres in his city, since they were honestly all his fault. So Lloyd, with Zelos somehow in position at his side, travelled backwards toward Izoold. Because he felt like it.

The odds of Izoold actually having expheres were so slim that Lloyd didn't even actually think about it until they found themselves standing at the edge of the town, at which point Zelos stopped, leaning back on his heels, and crossed his arms over his chest.

"This place is so... backwater." Zelos commented with a tinge of disdain as he pouted. "Why did you bring me here?"

"Bring _you_ here?" Lloyd echoed, turning to give his companion an exasperated look. "You're the one who wanted to come with me!"

"Oh, Lloyd. You _wanted_ me to come!" Zelos grinned brightly and lay a hand on Lloyd's shoulder as he passed. "You just didn't know it yet."

"If you say so..." Lloyd grumbled quietly, shrugging away Zelos' hand as quickly as possible, leaving the red-head pouting to himself as they approached the chief's house.

"So what are we going to do?" Zelos asked, "just waltz right in there and ask them to give us all the expheres they have hiding here in the village?"

"That was the plan, yeah..." Lloyd murmured, stopping on the stairs, in front of the doorway where he turned to regard his friend.

"Just a thought Lloyd, but... did you ever consider the fact that some people might not want to part with their exspheres?"

Lloyd's brow furrowed, "Why wouldn't they?" everyone knew that exspheres only led to trouble. It was just common sense to get rid of them.

"You still have yours." Zelos pointed out.

Lloyd blinked and lifted his hand gingerly, studying the colored orb that was grafted into his skin. His exsphere had been a gift from his mother- it was ipart/i of his mother, in fact. The only part he could rememeber. He answered in a very small voice "... because I need it."

"To convince people to get rid of their expheres?" Zelos scoffed and crossed his long arms over his chest, "Lloyd Irving, a true Man of Reason."

Lloyd looked at Zelos for a very long time before he realized that there was no way he could beat Zelos in this argment. There was only one way out of the corner he had been backed into, so he turned his back to the older man and began to walk away. "I'm not talking to you anymore."

"Aww, come on, bud. Don't be like that..."

In the end, Lloyd supposed he was glad to have Zelos along. Although he could prove to be consistantly irritating and often insulting, he still knew how to work with people. Lloyd knew that he probably would have screwed up big time in the PR area somewhere along the way. Genis once told him that he was an "inspiring" person and that there were people in the world who would follow him anywhere. Lloyd had yet to see any evidence of this- in fact, most people he talked to nowadays seemed to go out of their way to make him feel like a moron. If he were a less humble man, he probably would have taken to reminding those he spoke with that he had, in fact, saved the world not too long ago and it would be nice if maybe they gave him a little credit.

Fortunately for Lloyd, this sort of gloating was not below Zelos Wilder, who milked the aforementioned "hero" status for all it was worth. And he did it with a charming smile and bright, cheerful demanour. It did matter if they were Kings, village heads, inn-owners or even just a simple woman sitting alone at the pub. People couldn't help but give Zelos Wilder what he wanted.

There were exspheres in Izlood. A minor Desian commander and what was left of his unit had taken shelter in the relatively isolated town. Lloyd didn't even have to unsheath his swords- they didn't even put up a fight.

* * *

"Actually, I'm surprised you didn't bring Colette with you on this journey," Zelos began conversationally, sitting with his knees drawn up and his arms resting across them. He stared out across the campfire with an expression Lloyd couldn't quite read. People who didn't know Zelos would probably assume it was a blank expression, but Lloyd knew better than that.

Unfortunately, he still didn't know enough to identify that particular emotion on his companion's face.

"Well, I felt pretty guilty about the thought of dragging her away from home again," Lloyd confessed, picking at the quiche Zelos had warmed up for him earlier since he had refused to eat it cold. "She's been through a lot on this journey. I thought it would be good for her to spend some time with her family at home for a while."

"Hmph," Zelos responded, a sly smirk working it's way across his lips. "I would have thought that you would have wanted her to be by your side forever," the teasing implications in his voice were so heavy that even someone as dense as Lloyd should have picked up on them.

Lloyd felt his face heat up, but hid it bashfully behind his hand in spite of the darkness as he glanced off in the other direction. "I like being able to protect Colette, which is exactly why I left her at home. I thought that it might be dangerous for her to come with me." Still embarassed, Lloyd decided to turn the attention away from himself, and he turned back to Zelos, his eyes sharp. "Well, what about you and Sheena, then?"

Something flashed quickly in Zelos' eyes, but it was gone before Lloyd could even begin trying to refine a meaning out of it. "What iabout/i Sheena?" Zelos wondered in a guarded drawl.

"Well, Umm..." Lloyd bit his lip and wondered for a moment about whether or not he may have overstepped himself just a bit. "Aren't you and Sheena... well, I always thought that you two..." he cleared his throat akwardly, "Your sister said something about it once - so... yeah."

"She and I have known each other for... quite a while, but I don't think our relationship bears any similarities to what you have with Colette," he said, tilting his head to the side and smiling a bit slyly "Don't you _like_ her?" He chided.

"But I asked you, first!" Lloyd pouted as he licked his fingers childishly, leaving Zelos unable to take the younger man seriously. "I like Colette! I like everybody!"

Zelos groaned loudly in frustration as he stretched back and out into a more relaxed position. "Lloyd, you're so naieve sometimes that I wonder how you managed to even make it all the way to adulthood. I'm not asking you if you ilike/i Colette. I _know_ you like Colette. _Everyone_ knows that you like Colette."

Lloyd was obviously getting quite flustered - it wasn't an unusual position for him to be in when he was having conversations with Zelos. "I don't _like_ Colette! I LIKE her, but not _like_ like! I like Sheena, too! And the Professor! And Presea! And...!" Lloyd managed to shut his mouth as he realized he had run out of girls on the list of his best friends. Hopefully, Zelos would get the idea and this conversation would be over. He didn't want to talk about it anymore.

Zelos nodded appraisingly and was quiet for a few moments. It was only seconds, but they were long and painful, and Lloyd could have sworn he might have aged at least five years while waiting for Zelos' carefully worded reply.

"What about ime/i? Do you like me?"

"O-Of course I like you!" Lloyd couldn't blush any brighter, anyway. The workings of his frantic mind managed to slow to a halt, and Lloyd - for a moment - had no idea what else to say. "...And Dad. And Genis... And Regal..."

"Mmm..." Zelos seemed to relax slightly, but he sighed a breath of air around his words as he spoke, "I was wondering why there were no men on your list," the redhead said, poking at the dying fire in a futile attempt to keep it alive. "Are you going to try to tell me now that you don't like Colette any more than the rest of us?"

"Yeah!" Lloyd said, jumping on the suggestion a little bit too eagerly, but he didn't notice it himself. "What about you? Wouldn't you rather be hanging out with Sheena than stuck out here with me?"

"Sheena," Zelos muttered darkly. "Sheena, Sheena, Sheena. You know what, Lloyd? I'd rather _not_ go 'hang out' with Sheena. In fact, I _would_ rather be stuck out here with you. Without even a second thought."

Lloyd pursed his lips and tipped his head to the side. "Why not? You two always seemed like good friends. When no one was watching, at least. And then-" he summoned his courage, flushing -"There are those rumours..."

"Not 'rumours', Lloyd. Sheena is quite the hunny, don't get me wrong, but it all boils down to a simple case of 'been there, done that."

"Oh... well... I'm not really sure, but I think... I get it..." Lloyd's stutter betrayed him, as usual, "I don't know, Sheena is really nice and pretty. Why wouldn't you want to spend time with her?" Zelos sighed wearily and furrowed his brow when he realized that Lloyd really hadn't understood anything he had just said.

"Lloyd, listen to me very carefully... Sheena and I were _lovers_... Not for a very long time, but it did happen. We were... well, we were on a... an... exciting string of missions together a few years ago. One thing led to another and the two of us became a really hot little item, if I do say so myself, until my sister caught wind of it and tried to kill Sheena. Things just kind of fell apart after that. So, there you have it, Lloyd. All the nasty words and homicidal siblings that stand between us make our relationship a bit more than just 'awkward'."

"L-lovers?" Lloyd stammered, realizing he'd taken the conversation too far. As much as he loved to get to know his friends better, he wondered if he was probing too much into Zelos' personal affairs. But it was too late for that now... "I never knew Seles was that bad..." he mumbled, "but I don't have siblings, so I wouldn't know what to compare her with. But you love her, right? How did things change so much? Why did you let things fall apart so badly?"

"Love?" Zelos laughed bitterly. "You think that lovers need to be in love?"

Lloyd nodded slowly. Judging by Zelos' tone, he was obviously missing out on something here. As usual. "Well, if that's what it's called... I just thought..."

"I've had plenty of lovers," Zelos said, an edge of bitterness working it's way into his speech. "I've only recently come to realize what love really is. It's a lot more complicated than people make it out to be. That's why I was asking you about Colette. I wanted to ask you if you actually loved her."

Lloyd couldn't believe his ears. Why was Zelos asking him this? After stumbling over his words for a few moments, Lloyd managed to come up with some pathetic stammering "We... I... Well, I don't know... I haven't really thought about it! I haven't had much to compare it to." Lloyd folded his arms over his chest. "I... guess not. I mean, at least not in the, uh, way you're talking about..."

Zelos hummed thoughtfully and stared at Lloyd long and hard. The latter fidgeted under the uncharacteristically harsh gaze until the redhead blinked and fell backwards into the grass, stretching his arms over his head and yawning.

"Man, I don't know about you, but I'm beat! You should get the fire going again, and then we can sleep - afterall, we have to be at our best for another full day of adventure, excitement and intrigue in the backwoods of Sylvarant."

Lloyd didn't bother trying to hide his sigh of relief as Zelos finally chose to release the stressful topic of conversation. Zelos was great - he had to admit - but sometimes, he seemed to have something else going on in his head entirely compared to the words that were coming out of his mouth.

"You mean Sylveralla."

"What?" Zelos grunted, propping up his head up and peering down over his knees at Lloyd from his place on the ground.

"We reunited the two worlds, remember?" Lloyd reminded, "it's Sylveralla now."

"...Right..." Zelos sighed, rolling over once more to face away from the boy and the fire. "Goodnight, bud."

* * *

The next day, Zelos chose to pretend that the conversation had never happened. He walked far ahead of Lloyd, humming a song that Lloyd didn't recognize to himself until they reached the next town on the map; Hima. When they got there, he sat at a table and watched Lloyd from a distance as he went to book them a room at the Inn. Puzzled over Zelos' behaviour, he barely noticed the Innkeeper trying to get his attention.

"Hey. Are you even listening to me, boy?"

Lloyd blinked in surprise and his arm slipped, nearly throwing him into the ground. He bounced on his feet and stood at attention, very nearly isaluting/i the Innkeeper to prove he had in fact been listening. Even though he hadn't.

"Uhh... of course I am!"

"Then what do you think? Does it sound like a person you know?"

Lloyd tipped his head in confusion. "What person?"

The Innkeeper sighed in heavy annoyance as he rapped his fingers across the counter. "There was someone in here earlier telling me to keep a look out for a - and I quote - 'stupid looking guy wearing a red jacket and carrying two swords'. You look like you fit the description, so I was wondering if you might be the one the kid was looking for."

"A _kid_...?" the last part caught Lloyd's interest. The only kid he knew who would call him something like was Genis. Actually, Lloyd was pretty sure Genis ihad/i called him a 'stupid-looking guy' on more than one occasion, but the last he had heard from the half-elf, he was safe and sound, travelling around Tetheant (or was that Sylveralla?) with his sister. "Did you get his name?"

The Innkeeper shrugged. "Gennai... Genius... something weird like that. He definately wasn't a local boy, that's for sure. He looked kinda like an elf, but I didn't bother asking. Said it was _really_ important that he found you."

Lloyd's eyes widened and his heart began to race. What could Genis possibly _need_ him for if he was with Raine? He was sure that the professor was perfectly capable of taking care of any problem they happened to come across unless... Lloyd's head began to hurt as the variables snowballed in his mind. He turned away from the Innkeeper without even saying 'thank you'.

"Zelos!" he cried urgently, yanking the redhead from where he had been absorbed in studying the woodgrain on the far wall of the Inn's waiting room. "We need to go. _Now_."

Zelos eyed him with disinterest. If Lloyd had been a more analytical individual, he would have realized that the redhead was sulking. "What's got your underwear in a knot, bud?"

"Genis!" Lloyd exclaimed somewhat breathlessly, "I don't know where he is, or why, but I think he might be in trouble!"

* * *

There wasn't far to look as far as Hima was concerned.

"We should split up!" Lloyd suggested urgently.

"Split up," Zelos echoed in a condescending way. "So... I go check in that empty open spot over there, while you go climb the mountain?"

So they asked around the small village to make sure that Genis was still in the area. One person specifically pointed up the mountain and confirmed that Genis had gone in that direction recently.

"That was hard," Zelos sighed sarcastically.

"Shut up, Zelos! He might still be in trouble!" Lloyd shouted, climbing the steep hill as fast as he could.

"Hey, slow down! We can't _all _be super-heroes, you know!"

But Zelos was very relieved to discover that he wouldn't have to climb up to the top of the mountain after all, as he spotted the top of the silver-haired boy's head, sitting in front of the small graveyard that had been slowly forming there.

"Genis!" Lloyd cried triumphantly, running as fast as he could to his best friend's side.

The half-elf boy was crouched down, staring thoughtfully at the ground. He turned his head slowly to look at Lloyd with steady eyes. He was quiet for too a long moment and as Lloyd opened his mouth to say something - _anything_ - the boy flung himself at his friend in what could be percieved as a desperate hug. Lloyd shrugged awkwardly and shot Zelos a sideways glance. The redhead just raised his eyebrows and took a few steps back out of resigned respect for the two.

Genis pulled away from the hug suddenly and stood. That's when Lloyd noticed that the boy was much less a boy than he had been the last time they had seen each other. It seemed that Genis had finally hit a growth spurt, and although he wasn't nearly the height of Lloyd or Zelos just yet, he had at least managed to get eye-level with Lloyd's shoulders. He was beginning to look like a teenager - one of those ones with long, awkward limbs that bore the promise of eventual height. He held himself self-conciously, as if he had only just realized that someone as old as he was shouldn't ever be caught hugging his best friend. Genis wasn't anything if not prideful, and there wasn't any kind of person quite as self-concious as a prideful teenager with more intelligence than they knew what to do with.

But there was still something rather... frazzled about him that evened out his arrogance and added a desperate undertone to his voice and his movements.

"I've been searching for you _everywhere_, Lloyd!" he said, trying his best to sound annoyed. "It seems that you're only around when I _don't_ need you."

Lloyd tried to laugh, but it came out as an unenthused kind of snicker. He was confused and worried, "Uhh... Genis..." he began, but the half-elf cut him off.

"Raine said that we probably shouldn't bother you with our problems," Genis interrupted, "But... It's just that things have gotten so out of hand..."

"Where's the Professor? Why isn't she with you?" Lloyd injected quickly before Genis had a chance to continue on his tangent.

"Oh, yeah... well..." Genis wrung his hands together and his voice began to shake a bit. "She's in Sybak. And with things the way they are there, she can't exactly leave..."

Lloyd was very confused. He wasn't very good at understanding implied scenarios, so Lloyd simply squeezed his best friend's shoulder as he led Genis back to the Inn in silence. Genis had been under a lot of stress, and even Lloyd couldn't miss that. It was in the way his brow furrowed, and how much he blinked and fiddled with his fingers. He may not have noticed if he hadn't known Genis as well as he did. He even thought that he may have seen wet tears sparkling in the boy's blue eyes.

How long had it been since Genis had left Raine in Sybak? What happened to her there? Had he been alone since then? So many questions were running through Lloyd's head, but he chose to keep silent until they were safe, comfortable and alone inside the walls of the Inn.

The Innkeeper nodded approvingly and smiled as they entered, pleased that they had found Genis, just has he had intended. Lloyd thought he should feel relieved, but he didn't. The more questions he came up with, the more worried he became until they finally entered their room and closed the door behind them.

"...What happened in Sybak?" Zelos asked before Lloyd could, and the men both turned expectantly to the little half-elf.

"What _didn't_ happen in Sybak..." Genis muttered tearsely, "Raine and I headed there because we heard that the racial tensions were... well, _tense_. We figured it was the place we were most needed."

Zelos sighed audibly, his expression serious. "If anyplace in Teth... _Sylveralla_ was going to have trouble accepting half-elves, Sybak seems to be the place."

Genis shook his head impatiently. "No, no... That's not the problem at all. The humans in Sybak might have been weary about them, but they were completely willing to accept the half-elves into normal society if that was the price of peace."

"I don't understand," Lloyd frowned thoughtfully. "If the humans were willing to accept the half-elves, then what's the problem?"

"The problem," Genis began darkly, his voice low, "is that the half-elves weren't willing to accept the humans..."

Zelos and Lloyd exchanged equally puzzled expressions. That was the last thing anyone could have expected. "Uh huuhhhh..." Zelos groaned. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair as he turned and chose to find a chair to sit in.

Lloyd remained where he was standing, his arm lying across his scabbard. "But... I thought that's what half-elves _wanted_... to be equal, and have the humans accept them."

"I don't know," Zelos interjected, leaning forward in his chair at the other side of the room. "I'd be pretty pissed, too, if people had been oppressing me unfairly all my life, and just decided to pretend that none of it had ever actually happened. They've been through a lot all over Tethe'alla... and Sylvarant, too."

"But what happened to the Professor?" Lloyd asked, turning back to Genis.

"Raine... well, you know how she is. She believes that logic is the ultimate doctrine of life and that all living creatures are ruled by it in one way or another. Unfortunately, what was happening in Sybak had absolutely nothing to do with logic." Genis paused and brushed his long bangs out of his face. He had calmed down, but his mouth was still drawn in that tight, nervous line he made when he was nervous. "Zelos is right - the half-elves in Sybak were _especially_ angry, considering how the state used and abused them for the sake of science.

"Raine took it upon herself to talk some sense into them all. Even though she was an outsider who had lived a reasonably easy life, they welcomed her with open arms. In fact, in the beginning it seemed as if they would listen to her. The name of Raine Sage is a very respected name amoung half-elves these days. She talked to them for nearly a week with barely any sleep, trying to convince them to live in harmony with the humans, but..." Genis trailed off.

"Those... _morons_." Genis hissed the words stiffly, breathing it out from between his teeth. Lloyd realized that it was difficult for the young half-elf to speak negatively about his own people. "They took everything she said and miscontrued her words. I have no idea how they twisted Raine's logic into a war cry, but now they've taken over the town and are holding several high-ranking human officials hostage. My sister is trying as best she can to make them understand that what they're doing is wrong, but they aren't listening to what she has to say anymore. They only care what she _represents_ to them, even if it isn't something _she_ believes in. It's been like that for nearly a month now, without any solution in sight. It's almost as if she's a prisoner in there - she's the only thing keeping that entire city from collapsing into an extremely bloody civil war."

The room was silent for a long time before the entire situation finally sunk into the heads of the listeners.

"_What_?" Lloyd asked, gaping in disbelief.

"Oh, wow," Zelos said, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms over his chest. "I always knew Raine would get into a position where she'd have a sea of men at her beck and call, but I wouldn't be one of them."

"We don't have time for your jokes!" Genis snapped at the ex-Chosen. "We need to do something about my sister!"

"What else can we do?" Zelos asked, standing up and gesturing dismissively. "We have to go there and observe the situation to see if we can go and rescue her from the outside-in. Maybe then we can get a handle on the situation."

"They'd rather kill you," Genis growled bitterly.

"If that's so, why did you bother looking for Lloyd? What's a human supposed to do in this kind of situation?"

"Lloyd is the weilder of the eternal sword!" Genis replied a little too enthusiastically. He lowered his voice when he realized how loudly he had spoken. "And... well... I didn't know who else I _could_ go to... Lloyd's an idiot sometimes, but he's usually really good at solving problems like this one."

It was almost cute; how Genis didn't want to admit that he thought his best friend could help him make everything better.

"What are you doing with Lloyd, anyway?" Genis continued, settling a disapproving glare on Zelos. "Shouldn't you be off in Meltokio doing... something that doesn't involve him?"

"What does it matter? Are you jealous?" Zelos chided, tilting up his chin to make Genis feel smaller.

"What do I have to be jealous of?" Genis growled, folding his arms over his chest, forgetting his worry in place of his pride. "He's _my_ best friend!"

"Oh, really?"

Missing most of the conversation, Lloyd smiled warmly. "Thanks for having faith in me, Genis. I promise I'll save your sister, somehow."

"Got any ideas, wonderboy?" Zelos asked, turning to Lloyd.

"Uhh... umm..." If you asked the casual observer, they would probably say that Lloyd Irving wasn't exactly one for making decisions on the spot. However, to anyone who knew him well it was obvious that Lloyd was secretly a genius when it came to making plans at the drop of a hat. "Well, I can't think of anything right now... but we ihave/i to save Raine... and we can't just let Sybak get destroyed. Even if it's just one town, if we let slip through the cracks it will undo everything that we fought for."

Lloyd was completely oblivious to the admiring and impressed look that Genis was sending him. He was even more oblivious to the dazed half-grin that had settled on Zelos' face.

"I guess the only thing to do would be for us to head on to Sybak and see what we can do once we get there."

"Okay!" Genis agreed hastily. "But it's nearly two weeks' journey from here on foot. We should probably leave right now."

"Right!" Lloyd straightened confidently. "We can't allow the Professor to be in that situation for a moment longer than she has to be."

"I'll go get our bags!" Zelos added with his usual sarcastic flair as he turned toward the Inn's staircase.

"Just a second," Genis pointed an accusatory finger at the red-head. "Why are iyou/i coming with us?"

Zelos blinked and pointed at Lloyd, "I'm with him."

"You're with him _now_, but this is _my_ problem. I don't see why you need to stick your nose into it."

Zelos raised an eyebrow. "_Your_ problem? If there's a civil war in Sybak, I'd say that's the entire planet's problem. Besides, I was the Chosen. Surely you haven't forgotten? I don't know how Colette is dealing in Sylvarant, but in Tethe'alla, my title still holds quite a bit of weight."

"Are you expecting me to believe that you might turn out to prove _useful_?"

Zelos winked, "Aren't I _always_?"

"Stop it, you two," Lloyd frowned at them, predicting that the arguement wasn't about to stop, based on the fact that Genis was about to draw his breath for a good speech - but stopped. "Don't you think we have better things we could be wasting our time doing? Like walking."

Zelos saluted to Lloyd mockingly and went to fetch their bags, while the brunette apologized to the Innkeeper, informing him that they would be leaving right away. Genis stood back and sighed, gathering his thoughts.

It was nice to finally be around his best friend again. Now he was sure that things would be okay, somehow.

"Worried about your sissy?" Zelos asked, grinning, as he passed. Genis jumped at having been caught off guard and shot Zelos a dark glare.

"Shut up, Zelos." Lloyd frowned as he observed his travelling companions. The last thing he wanted to hear right now was them bickering.

Half-elves trying to take over a city? It was all nonsense! He had hoped that with the death of Yggdrasil, his people would have begun to understand that intolerance of others wasn't the way the world was supposed to work.

Maybe things weren't as they seemed. He was sure that there must be more sides to this story - sides that he couldn't even begin to comprehend until he saw the situation for himself.

Well... they would see soon enough.

* * *

to be continued... 


End file.
